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The National Marine Sanctuary Program's new 67-foot R/V Fulmar will be used to greatly expand and enhance research, education and emergency response programs for the west coast region. The vessel is homeported at the Monterey Harbor in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and also serves the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries.
The R/V Fulmar was built by All American Marine of Bellingham, Washington based on the design for the highly successful R/V Shearwater working at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary in Southern California. The R/V Fulmar is a Teknicraft hydrofoil-assisted, aluminum-hulled catamaran that was designed specifically to handle the wave states and conditions found in this region. The vessel will strengthen, streamline and connect efforts along the almost 400 miles of central and northern California coastline protected by these National Marine Sanctuaries.
Mission Statement
The R/V Fulmar supports collaborative research, education and resource protection projects in the Central and Northern California National Marine Sanctuaries to inform and implement sanctuary management.
General Uses
The R/V Fulmar primary function is research and monitoring and the vessel is heavily utilized for up to 180 key missions annually including benthic monitoring along the remote Big Sur coastline, marine mammal and sea bird observations, tagging organisms, oceanographic monitoring, archeological/cultural research (primarily shipwrecks) and collecting baseline data for emerging management issues such as invasive species and marine reserves. The data collected during these cruises will help inform management decisions at all three sites and with state and federal partners. The R/V Fulmar will also serve as a platform for teacher workshops and other education and outreach initiatives.
The R/V Fulmar schedule is available by
clicking
here.
More information on R/V Fulmar
can be found on the SIMoN
website.
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